Coercive Control

Like many other western nations, New Zealand has experienced significant migration since the mid-1980s. According to the most recent census, roughly one out of every four persons living in New Zealand is foreign born. The significant number of migrants to New Zealand of Asian and Middle Eastern ancestries has led to the development of rich and diverse ethnic enclaves. However, young people from these communities experience significant pressures to assimilate into western culture, which sometimes clash with parental desires to perpetuate cultural traditions. Drawing on 10 small group interviews conducted with 11 adolescent and 16 young adult female interviewees of Asian and Middle Eastern backgrounds in Auckland, New Zealand, this study examines how participants traverse culturally prescribed gender roles as they relate to intimate partner violence (IPV). Emergent themes from the study address participants' conceptualization of IPV, processes of learning IPV, and pressures to follow rigid gender-roles tied to IPV that are culturally embedded. The article closes with discussion on interpretation of research findings without perpetuating an Orientalist framework.

This study explored different types of intimate partner violence (IPV) perpetrators (and victims) in Mexican clinical and non-clinical samples and the differential mental effects among IPV types through Johnson’s typological framework. A total of 365 participants (court-mandated men to intervention programs, victims filing for domestic violence and male and female high school students) provided information about their IPV perpetration/victimization experiences and data on several mental health indicators. Less- controlling violence prevails in non-clinical samples, and more high-controlling IPV in clinical samples, the latter more frequently reported to be mutually-perpetrated. More adverse mental health effects were associated to more coercive IPV. Implications indicate the need to acknowledge the heterogeneity of IPV in practice and research in clinical and non-clinical samples in México.

This article describes domestic violence as a key context of online misogyny, foregrounding the role of digital media in mediating, coordinating, and regulating it; and proposing an agenda for future research. Scholars and anti-violence advocates have documented the ways digital media exacerbate existing patterns of gendered violence and introduce new modes of abuse, a trend highlighted by this special issue. We propose the term "technology facilitated coercive control" (TFCC) to encompass the technological and relational aspects of patterns of abuse against intimate partners. Our definition of TFCC is grounded in the understanding of domestic violence (DV) as coercive, controlling, and profoundly contextualised in relationship dynamics, cultural norms, and structural inequality. We situate TFCC within the multiple affordances and modes of governance of digital media platforms for amplifying and ameliorating abuse. In addition to investigating TFCC, scholars are beginning to document the ways platforms can engender counter-misogynistic discourse, and are powerful actors for positive change via the regulation and governance of online abuse. Accordingly, we propose four key directions for a TFCC research agenda that recognises and asks new

Children’s experiences and voices are underrepresented in academic literature and professional practice around domestic violence and abuse. The project ‘Understanding Agency and Resistance Strategies’ addresses this ab-sence, through direct engagement with children. We present an analysis from interviews with 21 children in the Unit-ed Kingdom (12 girls and 9 boys, aged 8-18 years), about their experiences of domestic violence and abuse, and their responses to this violence. These interviews were analysed using interpretive interactionism. Three  themes from this analysis are presented: a) ‘Children’s experiences of abusive control’, which explores children’s awareness of controlling behaviour by the adult perpetrator, their experience of that control, and its impact on them; b)  ‘Cons-traint’, which explores how children experience the constraint associated with coercive control in situations of do-mestic violence, and c) ‘Children as agents’ which explores children’s strategies for managing controlling behaviour in their home and in family relationships. The paper argues that, in situations where violence and abuse occurs be-tween adult intimate partners, children are significantly impacted, and can be reasonably described as victims of abusive control. Recognising children as direct victims of domestic violence and abuse would produce significant changes in the way professionals respond to them, by 1) recognising children’s experience of the impact of domestic violence and abuse; 2) recognising children’s agency, undermining the perception of them as passive ‘witnesses’ or ‘collateral damage’ in adult abusive encounters; and 3) strengthening professional responses to them as direct victims, not as passive witnesses to violence.

The full text of this article appears here: http://jiv.sagepub.com/content/early/2015/12/10/0886260515618946.abstract

If you cannot access this, and would like a copy of the paper, please send me a message, or email me jane.callaghan@northampton.ac.uk and I'd be happy to send it to you.

Research led by the University of Northampton has found that children who experience domestic violence are not just passive observers - they find complex, creative ways to manage and cope with what they have experienced, and have the capacity to be strong and resilient.
This is a key finding of the research project 'Understanding Agency and Resistance Strategies – Children in Situations of Domestic Violence', which today has published its final project report. This two year project, funded by the European Commission and led by the University of Northampton's Dr Jane Callaghan, is the largest qualitative study of children's experiences of domestic violence conducted in the world.
To collate the data, researchers in Greece, Italy, Spain and the UK interviewed 110 children and young people who had experienced domestic violence, focused on how they experienced the violence, and how they found ways to manage their experiences. Using the insights gained from this research, the team developed a group-based therapeutic intervention to support children to build on their existing strengths and coping strategies. The intervention aims to help the young people develop resilience and a positive sense of self, as they recover from living with domestic violence.
Dr Jane Callaghan explained: "We should challenge the media's depiction of children who experience domestic violence, as they are often portrayed as passive, helpless victims, doomed to repeat cycles of violence in their own later relationships. From our research we have found that  children's experience of domestic violence is a little like a double helix, with the twin strands of coping and damage very closely interlinked.  Children's capacity to be strong, to be agentic, to be resilient can only be read in the context of the actions that function to undermine their development of agency and resilience, forms of relating that characterise violence, abuse and coercive control."
Jane continued: "Consider, for instance, the examples of children hiding away in cupboards, hidey holes and dens. In some senses this looks like an accession to abuse and control – children might be seen by professionals and academics as hiding away, as cowering in corners. But if we only see this painful and difficult aspect of the child's behaviour, and don't try to make sense of the meaning they attach to it, we do not see how it is also resistant and resilient. Children are not just frightened, they are not just hiding. They are creating spaces for themselves, where they can feel just slightly safer, just a little more secure and in control."
The research team also completed an analysis of European and national policies on domestic violence. Their most significant finding is that children are startlingly absent from legal and policy frameworks.  Dr Callaghan explained: "Children who 'witness' domestic violence do not have a legal status as 'victim' – although this is changing in Spain, where the distinction between 'direct' and 'indirect' victims is being removed from Spanish statutes. This means that children are seen in law and policy as an absence, as 'collateral damage' to adult domestic violence, and this has consequences for how they are understood and treated in criminal justice, social services and voluntary sector organisations. Services for children who experience domestic violence are typically a 'bolt on' to adult oriented services, as adults, and particularly women, are seen as its main victims."
"We think this is because children are seen as 'silent witnesses', helpless in families where domestic violence occurs", says Dr Callaghan.  "By focusing on children's voice, on their capacity to make sense of the situation they are in, and to take creative action to make their lives a little better, we have been able to highlight both the profound impact of violence on children's lives and the complex and often paradoxical ways that they find to cope."
The UNARS project has highlighted that children experience the negative impact of domestic violence, and cope with domestic violence, in much the same way that adult victims do, and that the distinction between 'direct' and 'indirect' victim, or between 'adult victim' and 'child witness' is not sustainable. When policy frameworks do not include children as victims, this contributes to the erosion of children's representation and voice in professional and policy discourses. By focusing on children's capacity for conscious meaning making and agency in relation to their experiences of domestic violence, the research team have highlighted the importance of recognising the impact domestic violence has on children, and their right to representation as victims in the context of domestic violence.
To learn more about the research, and to read the research report, visit www.unars.co.uk.

This article describes domestic violence as a key context of online misogyny, foregrounding the role of digital media in mediating, coordinating, and regulating it; and proposing an agenda for future research. Scholars and anti-violence advocates have documented the ways digital media exacerbate existing patterns of gendered violence and introduce new modes of abuse, a trend highlighted by this special issue. We propose the term "technology facilitated coercive control" (TFCC) to encompass the technological and relational aspects of patterns of abuse against intimate partners. Our definition of TFCC is grounded in the understanding of domestic violence (DV) as coercive, controlling, and profoundly contextualised in relationship dynamics, cultural norms, and structural inequality. We situate TFCC within the multiple affordances and modes of governance of digital media platforms for amplifying and ameliorating abuse. In addition to investigating TFCC, scholars are beginning to document the ways platforms can engender counter-misogynistic discourse, and are powerful actors for positive change via the regulation and governance of online abuse. Accordingly, we propose four key directions for a TFCC research agenda that recognises and asks new questions about the role of digital media platforms as both facilitators of abuse and potential partners in TFCC prevention and intervention.

Children and young people who experience domestic violence are often represented as passive witnesses, too vulnerable to tell the stories of their own lives. This article reports on findings from a 2 year  European research project (Understanding Agency and Resistance Strategies, UNARS) with children and young people in Greece, Italy, Spain and the UK, who had experienced domestic violence. It explores children and young people’s understandings of their own capacity to reflect on and disclose their experiences Extracts from individual interviews with 107 children and young people (age 8-18) were analysed. Three themes are presented, that illustrate children and young people’s strategies for managing disclosure:  1) “Being silenced or choosing silence?”, explores children and young people’s practices of self-silencing;  2) “Managing disclosures: Finding ways to tell” outlines how children and young people value self-expression, and the strategies they use to disclose safely; and in 3) “Speaking with many voices” considers how children and young people’s accounts of their experiences are constituted relationally, and are often polyvocal.  The article  concludes that children and young people can be articulate, strategic and reflexive communicators, and that good support for families struggling with domestic violence must enable space for children and young people’s voice to be heard. This is possible only in an integrated framework able to encompass multiple layers and perspectives, rather than privileging the adult point of view. Practitioners who work with families affected by domestic violence need to recognize that children and young people are able to reflect on and speak about their experiences. This requires that attention is paid to the complexity of children and young people’s communication practices, and the relational context of those communications.

Recent cases in retailing reflect that ethics have a major impact on brands and performance, in turn, demonstrating that brand owners, employees, and consumers focus on ethical values. In this study, we analyze how various sources of social power affect corporate ethical values, retailer’s commitment to the retail organization, and ultimately sales and service quality. Multi-source data based on a sample of 225 retailers indicated a strong link between power, ethics, and commitment and that these affected output performance.

In 2015 in England and Wales a new offence of controlling or coercive behaviour was introduced with the aim of improving legal responses to intimate partner violence. Recognizing the historical limits of legal interventions in this area, this article examines the efficacy of coercive control as a conceptual device for improving access to law and justice outcomes for women victims. To do so, it considers the problems and possibilities of translating a concept generated from clinical practice into legal practice alongside an exploration of the potential unintended consequences of this new offence. The gendered analysis undertaken here reveals the limitations of framing women's experiences as 'coercive control' in law and concludes that, in the case of coercive control, more law is not the answer to improving responses to intimate partner violence.

We examined perspectives of social workers, police officers and specialist domestic abuse practitioners about their perceived ability and organisational readiness to respond effectively to incidents of coercive and controlling behaviour. Interviews revealed intervention and risk assessment strategies structured around an outdated, maladaptive concept of domestic abuse as an unambiguous and violent event and frontline services that lacked appreciation of the power dynamics inherent in controlling relationships. The analysis demonstrates how lack of definitional clarity around non-physical domestic abuse can increase the use of discretion by frontline services and, by extension, increase the discounting of coercive control by pressured frontline officers.